2023 F1 Canadian Grand Prix Preview

The 2023 F1 World Championship returns to North America this weekend for the ninth round of the season, the Canadian Grand Prix.

As usual, the Canadian Grand Prix will be held at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a 2.71-mile track consisting of roads around the perimeter of Notre Dame Island, a man-made island in the St. Lawrence River that tends to be action-packed. Overtaking is relatively easy, speeds are fast, and cars are pushed to their limits. [The layout is similar to the Baku urban circuit of the Azerbaijan GP, with a long straight followed by a series of chicanes and low-speed corners. As a result, the proper setup involves finding a compromise that provides stability under braking and good traction without ignoring the need to navigate the relatively high curbs, an important detail on this circuit.

To prioritize straight speeds, which can exceed 186 mph at the end of a straight, the cars tend to run in a low-downforce aero configuration. This lack of downforce leads to instability in the corners, which makes mechanical grip through the tires even more important than usual.

Traditionally, the track surface is very smooth, but due to the constant combination of hard braking and hard acceleration, tire degradation is on the higher side, which is something teams should be aware of: C3 is white hard, C4 is yellow medium, and C5 is red soft.

The weather is changeable, and even in summer it is often cool and rainy. The cooler weather and track conditions result in a certain amount of graining on the tires, especially at the start of the weekend, which reduces grip. Based on the current forecast, light rain may fall during Saturday's qualifying session, but Sunday's race should be dry.

Several teams are expected to make upgrades to their cars in Montreal, including Aston Martin, the biggest threat to championship leader Red Bull Racing.

Heading into Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's race, Red Bull's Max Verstappen leads the 2023 drivers' championship with 170 points. Sergio Perez, also of Red Bull, is second with 117 points and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso is third with 99 points. In the constructors' championship, Red Bull leads with 287 points, Mercedes-Benz AMG is second with 152 points, and Aston Martin is third with 134 points. Last year's Canadian GP winner was Red Bull's Verstappen.